Evidence, Collected Oddly, Allows Charge In Old Crime

Painstaking and coordinated detective work, between Kansas City and Colorado, have resulted in a charge in the attack on a Kansas City woman 14 and a half years ago.

Both the crime and the arrest dealt with events on local streets.

The 54 year old victim’s car broke down near 55th and Troost. On foot, she accepted a ride from a man who raped, robbed and threatened to kill her.

This was October, 1997.

The investigation went cold until a DNA link put similar crimes together in San Francisco and suburban Denver.

According to investigators, police in Aurora, Colorado were interested in a martial arts fighter, Jeffrey C. Ford, after a rape in their city. He was under surveillance when he spat on the ground and police collected a saliva sample.

The DNA link was allegedly made.

The statute of limitations had expired in Missouri for the crime of rape, but not first degree robbery. The woman’s purse had been taken at point of a weapon, in this case a brandished brick.